State pads incentive package for Scotts expansion

State officials are offering up more than $200,000 in tax incentives to lawn and garden giant Scotts Miracle-Gro Co. as it eyes an expansion at its Marysville headquarters and at a site in northeast Ohio.

The Ohio Tax Credit Authority on Monday approved a package of tax credits for Scotts (NYSE:SMG), the larger of which paves the way for two projects proposed for Marysville. Scotts is looking to build a 40,000-square-foot manufacturing facility that processes coir, the outer husk of coconuts that’s used in Scotts’ EZ Seed products, and find permanent space for 150 employees it has temporarily housed in portable school buildings at its headquarters.

Those projects would cost $26.2 million and could create 63 full-time jobs at an average hourly wage of $14.50, according to state Development Department documents. The 50 percent, 10-year tax credit approved Monday is valued at $116,210.

The state’s incentive comes after Marysville offered up a 10-year, 75 percent property tax abatement valued at about $1 million. Marysville is home to more than 1,000 Scotts employees and could land an additional $3 million in payroll if Scotts chooses its headquarters over potential sites in California, Iowa or South Carolina.

The Development Department on Monday also approved a six-year, 40 percent tax credit for Scotts valued at $106,490 for the lease of a 550,000-square-foot manufacturing plant in Orrville, about 100 miles northeast of the company’s headquarters. Scotts has told state officials it’s poised to invest $1.4 million to take over the facility from Atlanta-based Spectrum Brands Inc., a consumer products company that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in February. The facility, according to state documents, would make soils, mulch and fertilizer products and serve as a regional hub. Within three years, an estimated 63 jobs at an average hourly pay of $14.50 could be created in Orrville. A portion of those jobs, the state said, would be laid-off Spectrum workers.

The city of Orrville has offered up an incentive package valued at about $32,000, the state said. Scotts also has its eye on sites in Indiana and Kentucky for the project.

The state on Monday also approved tax credits for two other projects with Central Ohio ties:

• Dublin-based cell-phone recycler E-Cycle Inc. was awarded a 40 percent, six-year tax break valued at $101,414 to expand. The company said it’s considering investing $200,000 for a project that could create 40 new jobs in three years and retain 17 workers. Dublin has offered a tax credit valued at $32,500. E-Cycle said it is eyeing sites in Florida and California as well.

• CVC 1 Limited LLC, an Ohio firm with a patent on wiring technology that cuts energy consumption, is looking to buy a 30,000-square-foot facility for electric cable and wire manufacturing. The company hasn’t said where in Ohio it’s looking to invest at least $5 million and create 30 jobs, but the state said Licking County has kicked in a tax abatement valued at $575,000. CVC has told state officials it also is eyeing a site in Texas, home to a key investor.